


Pink Tinted Wishes

by ConscientiousMonster



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional something, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Issues, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mystery, Psychological Horror, Steven Universe Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23556505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConscientiousMonster/pseuds/ConscientiousMonster
Summary: Set after the Mr. Universe episode.Steven wakes up in his grandparents' house, and gets told that he came there crying about his awful life and how he wished he could have lived a normal human life instead of the one his dad gave him.He remembers nothing about that, neither does he knows why did those two old people agree to adopt him, but now that's his life and he has to adapt to it.Or not.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

It was time to get up. Steven could tell by the sunshine that stroked his face with its warmth, even through his closed eyes. But he just couldn't bring himself to get up. 

Get up for what? To face the same old Gems and get to hear all about their useless concern for him? To get another dose of those weird pink swellings? Or to face his dad again. 

The menu of activities for today just wasn't looking good from any angle. And that wasn't even the whole list, but some things Steven made a choice to avoid thinking about all together. 

As he laid with his eyes closed, he distinctly heard someone enter the room, sit on the edge of his bed, and place a hand on his forehead. Warm hand. Human hand. Either his dad or… 

Steven closed his eyes harder. 

"Please five more minutes." He tried to win last moments of serenity. This elusive time in the waking phase where the crushing weight of his problems hasn't fallen on his shoulders yet. 

"Of course deary. But be dressed and come down in at least 10 minutes for breakfast." Replied the soft unfamiliar voice. 

Steven shot up, opening his eyes at once. Before him sat a lady of old age, whom he had never seen before. Around him was the room that he had seen exactly once. Steven grabbed onto his curls, looking around for any sort of explanation. He was sleeping in a stranger bed, in a stranger house. The only items in the room that belonged to him were his jacket and pants, neatly folded and placed on the chair by the bed. 

Befuddled, Steven looked at the old lady. 

"I'm sorry, where am I?"

"Don't you remember?" The lady put her hands together on her lap. "Although, I won't be surprised if you don't. You had quite a fit last night. You were crying so much, I could have sworn your face turned pink!" 

Steven rubbed the back of his head.  _ Yeah, that happens. _ "No, I don't… remember…" 

The lady reached her hand, petting Steven on the head. It was weird for the boy, to say the least. 

"You've come to us, because we're your family. A more competent one than your dad. You've come crying about all the awful ways he raised you." 

"I… was?" 

"You begged us to take you into a normal human family." 

Steven shook his head, desperately trying to remember any of this. He did manage to recall visiting this house with his dad, and finding out that the people who lived here were his family. He remembered the  _ feeling. _ He went across the whole galaxy to meet his mom's side of the family, while those two old people lived here his whole life. He may have as well passed them by on the street one day! 

"I do remember…" 

"Good to hear. Gerard has been more reluctant about taking you in, but I talked him down to giving you a chance. So you best be on your best behaviour. Goodness, look at the time." The lady pointed at the dusty clock on the bed stand, "Get dressed and come down. We have a lot of places to visit today."

"Uhm… okay." Steven reached for his jacket on the chair. At once, it was snatched out of his reach. 

"Goodness, no! Not that dirty thing. We don't know what sort of germs live on it! Pick something out of the closet." 

The old lady picked his pants and jacket, and left the room with it. 

Once Steven stopped hearing her footsteps, he sat up with his legs hanging down from the bed he was on. 

_ How did I end up here? Think, Steven, think. Last thing you remember…  _

Steven sorted through his memories as he sorted through the dusty closet for some new clothes. He settled for a green and brown turtleneck and a pair of dull jeans. Looking in the mirror, he thought that he had traveled back in time for 50 years, or even more, and was now living inside an old sepia photo. 

Instinctively he reached for the phone in his pocket, and was momentarily scared to realize that it was missing. It must have stayed in his jacket! 

Steven bolted out of the room, hoping that the lady who's name he had yet to learn wasn't going to dump his clothes into the washer right away. He took some time to find a path that led downstairs (assuming she headed down). As he got down and anxiously looked in all directions, he heard some mysterious snarling from the kitchen. 

"You're running like you got a firework stuck up your butt, kid."

A man who's hair was on his face instead of his head was looking at him atop the newspaper in his hands. 

"Sorry, I'm looking for my jacket." The boy replied, taken aback by the comparison that was made about him just now. Did he do something wrong? "The lady took it with her." 

"That lady is my beautiful wife, and for the time being your adoptive mother - Marie." The man said the next part lower in tone, "Should have just adopted another dog as she wanted." 

Steven chose to miss that by, "She is very beautiful indeed, sir, but right now I need to find her because she took my-" 

"Sir? Perhaps you're not that hopeless yet." The man started saying in the middle of Steven's sentence. 

Like a good boy he was raised to be, Steven stayed quiet when the people worthy of respect spoke, though he found it weird that the man didn't seem to listen till the end of Steven's phrases. Maybe he didn't hear well? Luckily, the answer of his search walked back into the room. The old lady Marie walked in and stood by her husband Gerard's side. She was holding Steven's phone. 

"I sure hope you aren't one of those kids who spend their whole time staring into those blank screens." She said, looking at the device she was grasping incorrectly.

"Of course not ma'am." Steven stepped closer, reaching his hand for the device. But the lady quickly put it out of his range. 

"No, no. You can have it after the breakfast. You have no need for this at the table." 

Steven gulped down. He wasn't used to this, but on another hand - maybe this is what a normal human life was like? He wanted this, of course he did, he just needed some time to get used to this. 

"Of course. You're right. Wouldn't wanna get it dirty, haha." 

Steven's joke received no reaction. 

Steven sat at the table between the two elders. 

"Don't put your elbows on the table."

The boy put his hands down, tapping his fingers on his jeans instead. He thanked Marie when she poured him a bowl of soup, and opened his mouth to ask her about more things, but was hushed immediately. 

"Don't talk at the table." 

Steven quieted down, grabbing onto the spoon- 

"That's a dessert spoon. Did Gregory teach you no manners?"

"I do know table manners, sorry." 

"Then you should definitely know about no eating and talking at the same time."

"But I'm not eating yet-"

"Well you should. What's the problem?"

Instead of replying, Steven grabbed the spoon that got approved by Marie's nod, and began to eat. 

The soup tasted new to say the least. 

"Don't chew with your mouth open."

It was only as Steven was done with washing the dishes (which he volunteered to do on his own and earned his first Good Boy point with), was he allowed to have his phone back. But he was still asked to pay attention and not have it open anytime he would be in a dialogue with the two. 

Alright, he could do that. Not that he ever would show such sign of disrespect. Not that he ever even paid attention to doing that… 

"You mentioned that we have places to go?"

"We do, unless you changed your mind." Marie said as she sat down on the couch in the living room. She had her white blouse and a long checkered brown skirt blend into the dullness of the house well. 

Steven sat down next to her. He still didn't remember anything about the last night of his life, but he didn't want to seem forgetful. 

"Right… sorry, what did I make up my mind about, again?"

Gerard sat on the seat by the side of the couch, putting one leg over the other. 

"The boy's got an air head."

"Give him time, sweetie. He was raised in a van."

"You think you can pick him out of it and make a man of that boy?"

"Of course we can. I'm not surprised he hardly remembers last evening. Did you see how much he was crying?"

"Gregory raised a cry baby."

"There's nothing wrong with crying." Steven said, quieter than the dialogue he was hearing was happening. 

"Let us remind him then." Marie finally concluded, now looking at Steven. "Steven, you knocked on our door in the evening hour, looking absolutely frazzled. We thought you got into a car crash at first! But then you introduced yourself as our grandson. And you told us about running from your dad, because you realized what an awful, irresponsible person he is. You asked to stay with us. Because you, I quote, never had a normal human life." 

"It was here that Marie's heart melted and she began to comfort you." Gerard picked up the story, looking proudly at his wife, "Her heart is as beautiful as she is, and she agreed to let you stay with us. Seems like she missed the times there was a baby bird in our humble nest." 

"You're going to make me blush." Marie laughed softly, "But it's true. I do think the empty room could use another kid, and I would have helped a sweet looking kid like you even if we weren't related."

It was Steven's turn to blush happily, as he smiled at the two. 

"You told us you don't have any documents, so that's what we're going to get you today. It might be complicated, but Gerard has some good connections. You might have your ID in a month if we start today!"

Steven's eyes shined up with starts in them. His very first and real ID… Maybe he'll even have a birth certificate! 

"Thank you so much!" He replied immediately, standing up and reaching his hands to hug his new family. 

Gerard and Marie raises their hands first, not being used to such display of affection from a child in their house. But Marie soon recognized it and hugged Steven back. 

It was a cold day outside, Steven put on an oversized jacket, and a scarf with a hat that completely covered his face. It wasn't his choice of fashion - but he went with it. Riding in the back of the car and listening to the classical music with his new family members felt so new to him. He laid back in his seat, keeping his eyes half closed. Not wanting to drift to sleep completely. Not wanting this to go away. Not wanting to close his eyes, open them again, and realize that all of this was just a dream. No, he wanted this life. He wanted to experience a normal human life, at least for once in his weird alien crime-against-nature hybrid life. 

In the corner of his eye Steven thought he saw a familiar face pass by on the street. A face from his past life. Whether he really did see them or not, the boy tried to sit deeper into his seat, covering his face with his hat. 

He was not planning to come back. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Smile for the camera!" 

Steven smiled wide. This was so exciting. Getting his first real human documents was nothing like being an ambassador to a post-tyrancial race of sentient rocks. Here he only had to sit nicely and smile for the camera. Is that what a normal human life was like? Steven could get used to this. 

Once all the information was filled in, and the reasons as to why Steven never had his papers before has been established - they were given an estimate date when to come back for the ready papers. He felt slightly bad that the reason why he was undocumented was decided to be that his dad kept him as such. It was almost putting Greg in a bad light, or potentially giving people reasons to sue him. 

Or maybe it did not. Steven didn't know how that worked for people. But he would make sure that he'd learn law, and math, and physics, and chemistry… 

School was their next stop. Steven was swaying from side to side in excitement, but was soon asked to behave calmer to make a good impression. 

"Esmeralda is my childhood friend." Marie began to tell as she led Steven through the tall halls of the learning facility. "She's the principal of this school. She will enlist you in no time, but you must show her your best side. You do have an education level of a… 10th grader, don't you?" 

Steven stopped in his track. 

"Don't tell me…" Marie looked back at him, "Ugh, he couldn't even give you a proper education." 

She came closer, hugging her grandson around the head. 

"Poor, poor child. That monster has done nothing for you, I'm surprised you're still alive at all."

"I'm surprised by that too sometimes." Replied Steven Universe. 

They finally entered the room before the principal's office. It has been years, but Steven felt that small familiar feeling. Last time he felt that way when he had to face the Diamonds one by one. This worry to impress someone. Luckily the boy knew exactly what to do to ace that - just be himself! He's always done that, he could do this again. 

Marie introduced Steven as the kindest little boy, and a poor victim of long term kidnapping and illegal life. Steven didn't agree with everything that she told the principal about him, but said nothing. It was best he'd let the older person who knows what they're doing - do it. 

Finally, the principal nodded to Marie, and turned to address Steven. 

"Steven DeMayo?"

"That's right ma'am."

"You were illegally raised in a van for the majority of your life?"

Steven shrugged, "Pretty much. Well, I moved to the temple when I turned 9."

"The temple?"

"Yeah, it was… kind of a cave in a mountain, but it's got a statue of Obsidian around it."

Esmeralda took her glasses off, and then looked at Marie with a look between horror and disappointment. 

"So you grew up in a cave?" 

"Oh it was more of a house. I had my own room! I got more privacy as I grew up."

The principal shook her head slowly. 

"Poor child. Didn't even have his privacy when he was younger. Well, Steven, were you educated at some point of your life before?"

"My dad taught me how to write in both cursive and typing letters, and I know how to count…" Steven looked around, trying to remember what else did he know that he was taught about. Interstellar politics probably wouldn't cut it to even get accepted into younger classes. 

"Do you know anything about chemistry? Physics? Can you solve an equation for an X? Do you know anything about the life of the classic writers?" 

Steven shook his head, shamefully. 

"He's completely uneducated." The principal concluded to Marie. "Inadequate."

"It's not his fault."

Steven had saved the galaxy, but has never been called either of those words while he was at it. He was never blamed for not knowing how to "solve the X". He suddenly felt really bad that he didn't know something he never needed to know. 

This is a normal human experience… right? 

"I think it would be better if you homeschool him before he can come here." 

"The boy is very fresh out of a bad environment, and I want him to have a normal human life. Please, Essa. Can't you at least let him sit at the lessons and make friends?"

The principal looked down at her papers, checking something, then turned her attention to Steven again.

"Say, what about your social skills? Did you… have friends in your past life?"

"Oh a plenty!" Steven was relieved, filled with hopes to shine in the one subject that he always knew by heart - friendship. "I've made friends with ge- uh… people who had tried to kill me multiple times!" 

Esmeralda dropped her glasses. 

"Were they also in the cave that you grew up in?" 

"Some of them… they were kept there, but for their own good. Because they didn't have their mind in place at the moment. But I made friends with a lot of them!" Steven put his hands together, his eyes were beaming up with stars. "I helped run a rehabilitation school for them!" 

"...Would you say you are good with psychology then?"

"Fairly." Steven nodded, "I don't know the official terms… but I paid a lot of attention to how emotions work over the years. I helped put together a dysfunctional family before. It was my mother's… family." The boy looked sadder all of a sudden. "...They were intergalactic tyrants."

Esmeralda was filling out some papers as he spoke, but she stopped at his last words. She looked at Marie for answers. 

Marie shrugged, covering her mouth in mild embarrassment. 

"His mother died at childbirth, so Steven copes with it by making up stories about her." She explained. 

The principal tsked. 

"I would hope by the age of 16 the boy would be better and differentiating fiction from reality." 

"He is a very down to Earth boy." 

"Actually, I've been to space multiple times." Steven added in. 

Marie's face changed as if she had just bitten into an invisible lemon. 

"You've been… to space?"

"I helped solve intergalactic war." 

The principal lifted the pen she was writing with, and loudly clipped it closed. 

"Marie, I respect you, but that type of childish behaviour won't do at my school. Next thing you know is this kid will be talking about unicorns and rainbows... or worse." 

"What do you mean?" Steven replied as Marie didn't dare answer. 

"Tell me, child." Esmeralda picked the papers that had Steven's name on them for five minutes now. "...How many genders are there?" 

After Steven replied, she crumbled the papers into a ball and threw them across the room. 

Gerard waited patiently by the car, just outside the school. He was quite surprised to see Marie lead Steven out by his ear. She looked mad.

"Into the car." She said, shoving Steven towards the back seat. "I can not believe it..." 

Gerard asked nothing, but helped his wife sit on the front before he took the driver's seat again. 

"I told ya the boy would fail." 

"Don't say a word." Marie was rubbing the sides of her head. "It's not his fault. It's all his father's. He raised him even worse than we thought."

"Told ya, told ya that son of a bitch would get nowhere in life without us!" Gerard to turned Marie for a second, "No offense." He said with a smirk. 

"I'm not offended!" Barked the mother of the son in question, "We're going to have to homeschool him unless we can get him enrolled in the special school." 

"There's a special school?" Steven asked humbly from the back seat. A special school sounded like a nice place for him. 

"There is one, for degenerates." Marie replied, rubbing her forehead. "Goodness, how am I going to look Esmeralda in the eyes again…"

"You know it's not too late to drop him."

"No! No. I said we would make a normal human out of this boy, hence we will make a normal human out of this boy!" 

"Alright, alright. But if he runs away like Archie did, I won't be snooping the streets for him again. 

"Who's Archie?" Asked Steven. 

"Her previous dog." Replied Gerard. 

The second school they visited - Steven was more prepared for, as Marie instructed him on the things to say and things not to say.

Steven did as she said, and got enrolled. 

The boy felt like time flew by strangely fast and the next thing he knew was him falling on his new bed face first. It was a tiring day, a mentally tiring one. Steven smiled against his pillow. At least he got his first steps on the path of being a normal human done. 

He turned over, facing up at the dull white ceiling with a medieval looking chandelier in the middle of the room. 

He just wasn't used to this, is all. This is what normal humans deal with their whole lives, and Steven had just began to face it at the ripe age of 16. Of course it wasn't going to be easy. 

He tried to reflect on all that happened today. And he tried to be on his best behaviour for the rest of the evening. Lying wasn't his favourite activity, but being his honest self got him in trouble and got Marie to raise her voice at him. Steven shook his head, not wanting to remember seeing this sweet old lady so distressed. 

It's okay, it's okay. 

Tomorrow is another day. 


End file.
